50 Years On: A Civil Rights Discussion

(October 23, 2013) This year marks the 50th anniversary of integration. To honor the university's growth since then we will host a Diversity Celebration. We have many well-known and respected alumni who have been on the forefront of changes towards celebrating diversity both on campus and in the larger community.

Dr. Johnson was Armstrong’s first African-American student, admitted to attend in 1963 amid the tensions of the Civil Rights Movement. He went on to serve as Savannah’s second African-American mayor. He is nationally known in the field of community building and youth development and has served as the Chair of the National League of Cities Council on Youth, Education, and Families.

Judge Silver was a friend of Martin Luther King, Sr. and later served as legal counsel to Mrs. Coretta Scott King. He served as president and founding member of the Board of Directors for the King Center for Non-Violent Social Change. He spent much of his career as a trial lawyer, handling over 3,000 civil and criminal cases. He was appointed as an Atlanta municipal judge for eight years.

This will be an event you won’t want to miss. Hear first-hand stories about what it took to achieve integration and change the course of history.

Come celebrate with us on Tuesday, November 5 at 2 p.m. at the Ogeechee Theater in the Student Union.